precede

He had a special knife designed to cut the dense loaf, and a ceremony to precede cutting the cake.

Of course, there are delicate negotiations that precede such an event.

We see it as an appetizer that could precede a glorious banquet.

To the invitation to precede him she readily responded, and, with a bow to the Seneschal, she began to walk across the apartment.

He made way for her to precede him in the narrow wood path, and then silently followed her up the glen.

As causes precede effects, the causal order and the time order generally coincide.

There was something almost ghastly in this terrific silence which could only precede some unnatural tumult.

It was only on the first landing that the servant stood aside with the tray to allow me to precede her.